The Stranger
by Pottalova
Summary: Set during season 3, A strange girl from Jenny Calendar's past arrives in Sunnydale to help the scoobies, and eventually becomes obsessed with trying to reserect her. Rated just in case Please no flames unless you've read the story!
1. Chapter 1

Alexandra took a deep breath as she looked at her new school. Gracefully, she stepped up the stairs and headed to the office to get her schedule. She uncomfortably realized by the turning of most of the male population's heads that her outfit choice had probably not been a good one to "blend in" with a denim miniskirt that showed off her long, thin legs and a colorful halter top. She shrugged it off, however. She always loved being the center of attention; it was just _them_ who wanted her to fit in.

When she reached the office, she gave her 'name' to the secretary, who wordlessly handed her a half sheet of paper with her classes, though she would occasionally say 'uh, huh' or 'yeah' to the receiver that was connected to her ear, and eventually shooing her off to class. 'Welcome to Sunneydale,' she thought to herself, exiting the office and heading to first period global history.

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"…now, would everyone please turn in your notes to the section on ancient Egypt?" Mrs. Hayse asked politely.

"Umm, Mrs. Hayse… I don't have notes or a textbook, I'm new here, soo…" Alexandra stated confidently.

"Oh, right," the teacher said absently, "you must be Alexis Jones, then."

"Umm, no…" Alexandra began, but caught herself in mid-sentence, "I mean, yes, that's me, Alexis Jones!"

"Well, you can just look on with someone else then, umm," she hesitated, looking around the room for someone who would have good notes from last year, "Why don't you go sit with Willow over there, you can switch with Alexander Harris," she said, motioning for them to switch.

'Perfect,' Alexandra thought, but apparently, Xander had a different opinion, because he complained, "Aww! I need to see Will's notes too!" the teacher, however, just glared at him and waited for them to switch seats.

When 'Alexis' reached her new seat, Willow moved her desk over a little so her notes would be visible to them both. As the teacher began her lecture, Willow whispered, "Hi! I'm Willow! What's your name?"

"I'm Alexan-" she was about to say 'Alexandra Kalderash,' but she caught herself and quickly said "well, Lexie, Lexie Jones."

"Welcome to Sunneydale, Lexie!" Willow said warmly, "but you're goanna need to go to the library and get your books, I was just about to head down there after class, do you want to come with me?"

"Um, sure," Alexandra said, pretending to turn her attention to the lecture.

At the end of the period, Lexie followed Willow, as she said she would, to the library. Without much thought, Willow jumped behind the librarian's desk and began furiously typing on the computer.

"You look like you're pretty good with that thing," Lexie commented, smiling.

"Yeah, I love computers, I'm just pulling up your schedule and the books you need for your classes," she said, her eyes glued to the screen, "I was actually the computer science teacher last year, after-

well, after the old one died in the middle of the year," she said sadly, then paused, thinking.

Lexie, however, already know perfectly well what happened to the first computer science teacher. "I'm sorry," she barely managed to croak out.

"It's alright," Willow said, sadly, I've had a chance to get over it. It's been a year already. We still miss her, but, I guess life just has to go on, doesn't it?" she asked, feigning a smile, "do you like computers?"

"Me? Oh, no," Lexie responded, looking at her feet, "I'm really more interested in the arts- dance, singing, painting, drawing… computers were really more of my mother's thing, but I do know a fair bit about them, she taught me everything I know," she said proudly, then added sadly, returning her gaze to the floor, "she died… last year… I didn't even get to see her, she just left, and then my Aunt told me that she and my uncle had died while they were away."

"Oh, Lexie, I'm so sorry!" she said, running over to give her a hug. She barely knew this girl, but she felt some sort of connection with her, like she had known this girl before, somehow…

About ten minutes later, when Lexie and Willow were quietly collecting her books, Giles walked in and told Willow, "It wasn't her, just reports of some sort of movie," he said, deflated, sinking into one of the chairs at the tables in front of the bookcases.

"Oh, don't worry, Giles, you'll find her, I mean, she can't stay away forever, this being the you-know-what and all," Willow told him pointedly, trying to tell him 'don't say the h- word' with her eyes.

"You mean the hellm-"

"Who's missing?" Lexie asked, coming out from behind the bookcase.

"Just a friend of ours," Willow responded as both she and Giles stiffened slightly.

"Ooo! Can I help?" Lexie asked, getting out her sketchpad, a pencil and a notebook, "I love figuring out puzzles and stuff, what does she look like?"

Willow and Giles exchanged uncomfortable looks, but reluctantly, Willow began describing Buffy.

A/N: I know… short chapter, the next ones will be longer, I promise.

PS Does anyone know who she is?


	2. Chapter 2

"Wow! That's amazing!" Willow exclaimed, admiring Alexandra's drawing of Buffy.

"It certainly is a very nice depiction of her based solely on a verbal description," Giles agreed, looking at it with Willow. When he looked at Lexie, however, he was taken aback by her as she looked up and smiled at him. There was a twinkle in her big, brown eyes that seemed strangely familiar…

"In Giles-ish, that means the picture looks good," Willow said, oblivious to what was going on.

"What's wrong?" Lexie asked, looking concerned.

"What?" Asked Willow, bewildered.

"Hmm? Oh, it's nothing," Giles responded, "you just, umm, reminded me of someone, that's all."

Lexie's face suddenly became serious as she said, "Right, well, umm… on to the mystery that is… uh…"

"Buffy," Willow offered.

"Right," Lexie said, "Buffy, of course! Why did she leave in the first place?"

This time, unsure how she should answer, Willow turned to Giles to clarify, "Well, that's a little complicated… she and her mother got in a fight about an ex- boyfriend, and when she went after him, she never came back."

"And where is this boyfriend now?" she asked.

Willow quickly replied, "Oh, don't worry, we're sure he hasn't taken her or anything."

"Okay…" Lexie answered uncertainly, "when did all this happen?"

"Just before the end of school last year," Giles answered, "which reminds me, I don't know if this will be of any assistance, but she was expelled before she left last year."

"It should help a bit, thank you," Lexie told him, smiling again with those big, brown eyes…

"Did she do any extra-curricular activities?

"She did ice skating before," Willow said, shrugging, "but that was before she even came to Sunneydale."

"Where did she live before she came to Sunneydale?"

"In Los Angeles," Giles told her simply.

"Alright," Lexie said, still writing, "One more question, what was her ex's name?"

"Angel" both Giles and Willow responded in unison, but after a stern look at Willow, Giles continued, "but when she left, he was going by the name of Angelus."

"I think I know the place where she is, but I don't want to say anything, in case I'm wrong…" Lexie explained slowly, smiling.

"Oh, don't worry, even if you said a place halfway around the world from where she really is, you'd probably be closer than any of the other leads she's gotten," Willow told her, smiling, but the smile quickly faded when she looked up to see Giles staring at her.

"Alright, but I don't know… If she doesn't want to be found, why should we be trying to find her?" Lexie questioned.

"Because we _need_ her," Willow said urgently.

"We just want to make sure she's alright..." Giles said, polishing his glasses.

_Oh, crap I made him nervous,_ Alexandra thought, before finally saying, "I think she's in… LA."

Giles wasted no time before going to his office and grabbing his coat. "It will be a place that's familiar to her, but it's such a big city, she thinks it'll be too hard for you to find her there. Plus, think of the name connection with her ex-boyfriend. _Angelus _and_ Angeles_, I believe she thinks that being in the city brings her closer to him without upsetting any of her friends or family."

"Wow," Willow muttered, looking dazed as Giles ran out the library doors, "you're amazing!" The bell suddenly rang and Xander and Cordelia burst through the door.

"What'd we miss?" Cordelia asked.

Xander, noticing Lexie and running his hands through his hair said, "Oh, hello."

"Buffy's in LA," Willow explained, leaving, "This is Lexie, she's new. It's a good thing Cordelia didn't see you do that."

"See him do what?" Lexie and Cordelia asked at the same time.

Willow was on her way out when Xander grabbed her arm and asked into her ear, still smiling at Lexie, "Do we like her?"

"Yes, Xander, we like her," Willow told him, and before he could even ask, she said quietly to him, "and, no, she doesn't know, but I've really got to get to class, especially since I have to show her where to go before I can go myself."

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"That was Xander and Cordelia, you get used to them," Willow explained, walking Lexie to English, room 305, "The librarian is Giles, he's almost like Buffy's dad, except different… It's kind of confusing…"

"It's okay, I understand," Lexie said, thinking of home, "I'm from a big family, but the funny part is, half of them aren't even related to me, but we're all so close, we might as well be… it's a little complicated, but it's just how I was raised…"

The two walked in silence the rest of the way, thinking. Willow just couldn't get what this girl had done out of her head, she was amazing! They could really use her… but Willow couldn't tell her, it would break the rules… not that they really had any rules or anything, but it's was just how they worked and it didn't seem right to tell her.

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	3. Chapter 3

Giles aimlessly strolled along the streets of Los Angeles, searching for any sign of Buffy. While he was walking, he accidentally bumped into an old lady dressed in rags. "Oh! I'm sorry," Giles told her, stepping out of her way.

She just continued to walk right past him, saying, "I am no one."

Giles, a little confused, continued to walk down the street until he reached a small coffee shop, where he stopped to buy some coffee as a pick-me-up.

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In English, Lexie was completely board, so she sat at her desk and began working on a portrait of her teacher. This way, she looked like she was paying attention, because she had to keep looking up to portray her correctly, but she still had something to do and wasn't completely board. (A/N: this is actually a really good tip to use if you ever don't feel like paying attention in class, but I wouldn't suggest it if you are currently failing that particular course)

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The next day, Alexandra stood in front of a mirror she found, getting ready for the party. Gently pulling her hair back in a barrette, she took a deep breath and stepped out the door.

Willow had called earlier and told her about a huge party, 'everybody is going to be there,' she had said. When she arrived, she realized that Willow might not have been exaggerating. What seemed like a hundred cars lined the streets and Buffy's house was literally overflowing with people. _Wow_, she thought to herself, _Buffy must have been more popular than I was led to believe._

She slowly walked up the steps and through the door, past Xander and Cordelia making out by the door and over to where the band was playing, unfortunately breaking something unidentifiable on her way by. "Dude!" Some guy across the room on the phone yelled, covering up the receiver, "She broke it! She's got to take a shot!"

Not wanting to be forced into alcohol consumption and taking this as her queue to leave, she quickly walked towards the door, but was stopped by Willow on the way there, "Lexie! Come here! I want you to meet Buffy!"

"Willow, I would love to, I really would," Lexie explained, still trying to make her way through the people towards the door, "those guys over there are trying to take a shot."

"Oh, don't worry," Willow told her, "Buffy won't let them; she's really good at self-defensy stuff."

"Alright, where is she?" Lexie asked.

"I think she went up to her room," Willow replied, grabbing her arm and pulling her up the stairs, "come on."

When they got to her room, it was to find Buffy crying in front of a packed bag, which made them abruptly stop their idle chatter and turn their attention to the bag on Buffy's bed.

"Buffy, what are you doing?" Willow asked, eyes wide, afraid of the answer.

"I was just… just… I-I don't … I don't know what I was doing." Buffy responded to her friend, unsure of herself, before abruptly becoming aware of the stranger standing beside Willow, "Who's that?"

"That's Lexie, she's new," Willow explained absently, "but do not change the subject!"

Just then, Mrs. Summers walked in and somehow Lexie felt like she shouldn't be there, even though Alexandra knew she should stay. (A/N: That's kind of confusing, but I'm using the name Alexandra to represent the person that she was and what her duties are, while Lexie is the person that she's become by making friends in Sunneydale and how she really feels. So in this sentence, Lexie as a person doesn't want to be in the room because she's uncomfortable, but she knows it's her duty to stay and find out as much as possible.) In the end, however, Lexie won and she quietly walked down the stairs, only to be greeted by a bunch of demons bursting through the window.

The stench that followed the demons was atrocious, so, covering her nose, she followed the other fleeing students out the door and hid in the bushes. Not because she wanted to see all the icky fighting, but because she knew she should wait and see what happened.

It was a few moments before anything happened. She heard something in Buffy's front lawn, so she looked up to see Buffy and a woman with an ugly mask on and red eyes. All of a sudden, there was a strange red light that appeared to be coming from the mask and Buffy seemed to be frozen in time for a few seconds.

"Buffy!" Oz called, bringing her back from her dreamlike stasis. He appeared to be about to say something else, but the woman looked him and after another flash of red light, he was frozen too, luckily, Buffy had fully recovered and discovered what was happening, at least to some extent.

"Hey Pat!" She called, but when Pat turned around to look at her, Buffy pierced her eye with a shovel.

Alexandra heard Buffy say something, but didn't catch what it was, she was too busy silently vomiting in the bush next to her because of the violence she was just forced to witness.

Author's Note: Wow... shorter chapter than I thought It would be... sorry


	4. Chapter 4

"Aunt Jenny!" 3 year old Alexandra exclaimed, running into her aunt's arms.

"Hi, Sandy, what have you been up to?" Her aunt asked, picking her up and fiving her a hug.

"I was just picking berries in the woods with mommy!" Alexandra replied, holding up a basket filled with barriers.

"Wow, that's a lot of berries!" Jenny exclaimed, smiling at her niece, "Why don't you bring them inside and I'll tell you a story?"

"Yay!" Alexandra yelled, grabbing her bucket and running into her tent, closely followed by her mother and Aunt.

"Now, have I ever told you the story about Angelus?" Jenny asked once they were inside.

"Jennifer!" Alexandra's mother exclaimed, shocked, "She's still a girl, far too young to be scared by your horror stories!"

"Mommy!" Alexandra wined, "I'm a big girl! I want to hear Aunt Jenny's story!"

"She must know, she needs to find out what he has done to our people, she must learn of the vengeance we serve." Jenny told her sister, speaking as if Alexandra wasn't even there.

"Alright," her mother replied, deflated, "but I'm not staying to hear it."

As her mother left the tent, Alexandra listened as her aunt began the story; "Once, a long time ago, there was a beautiful young gypsy girl why was beloved by her people. Unfortunately, she also had caught the eye of an infamous vampire named Angelus. Alexandra, are you awake? Sandy? Lexi? Lexi!"

Lexi woke with a start to find Willow poking her with a sharp pencil and calling her name "Lexi! Lexi! Wake up! Before Mr. Brand gets back! Lexi!"

"I'm up! I'm up!" Lexi mumbled, wiping her eyes and pushing her hair out of her face.

"Good," Willow told her, "because this class is almost over and we're going off campus for lunch today!"

Lexi looked back at her new friend and laughed to herself at Willow's enthusiasm.

"Don't you love this song?" Lexi walked in just in time to hear Scott say.

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"Uh, yeah," she responded as Lexi sat next to her, "actually, I do."

"Well, would you like to…" Scott asked her.

"Dance?" She asked nervously, but even Willow's encouraging face and Lexi's nudge in the arm didn't quite work convince her it was safe, "um, I don't know, I'm bad with… well… thank you for asking, it's just that…"

"Okay, you know what? I'm just going to go stand by the dance floor, if you change your mind, you can mosey on over and if not, then you don't mosey. No harm, no foul, alright?"

"Great." She told him, smiling.

"Come on, Buffy!" Willow told her, "I mean, the guy is charm! And normal, which is what you wanted to get back to."

"Normal?" Lexi asked.

"Her last boyfriend was… different" Oz explained, "Plus, bonus points for using the word 'mosey'."

"I just don't think I'm ready." Buffy tried to explain.

"What's stopping you?" Willow asked, but before Buffy could answer, Cordelia interrupted.

"Check out Slut-o-Rama over there and her boyfriend Disco Dave. What was the last thing that guy danced to, Casey and the Sunshine band?"

"Eww, why don't people like that just get a room?" Lexi asked, disgusted.

"I don't think that guy thrives in sunshine," Buffy told them, following the couple out.

"Aww, I think she's going to dance with Scott!" Lexi exclaimed, "What? She's leaving! What is she doing."

"Not dancing." Willow told her, getting up and following her out with Oz, Xander and Cordelia.

"Wait, where are you going?" Lexi asked.

"Lexi!" She exclaimed, looking to Xander for help.

"Uh, Lexi, would you mind going up refilling our drinks for us?" He asked.

"Sure…." She told him, heading for the bar, but when she got there, there was a long line. After waiting a few seconds, she followed them out the door, arriving right behind Buffy just in time to see Faith dust a vampire.

"Thanks, B, couldn't have done it without you," Faith said, walking around them.

"Woah!" Lexi said.

"Yeah," Buffy said, glancing at her, then did a double take and turned to yell at her friends, "wait, you brought _her_ out here???"

"I thought you were getting drinks!"

"Yeah, everyone is running outside to watch whatever is going on and I go get drinks? Yeah, right," Lexi pointed out obviously.

"Nice, guys," Buffy told her friends, rolling her eyes, "now we have to go tell Giles."

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"Yes, well," Giles began after finding out, "perhaps you should explain it, Willow, since you are the one who let her know."

"Xander is the one that told her to get us drinks while we were all leaving!" Willow protested.

"Its okay, I know," Lexi said softly.

"Come on, guys," Xander said, ignoring her, "well basicly, demons exist, Buffy is the savior of the world, we help, yada yada yada. Wait, you know? How does she know?"

"Are you a witch?" Giles asked, taking a step back, then muttered after Willow's glare, "not that I have anything against witches, I'd just appreciate a little warning."

"No," She told them, giggling and giving Giles an odd sense of Deja Vu, "I don't have that kind of power."

"Then how…" Willow began to ask.

"I've had relatives killed by vampires before," she told them.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Willow said, "I didn't mean to say that. Well, I did… at the time… but I wouldn't have… if I… okay, shutting up now."

"Its okay," She told them, "but I'd better get to class. Willow, almost ready?"

"Yeah, I'm just gonna… go get my… you know… books," Willow told her slowly

A/N: Wow… sorry guys… it's been a really long time…


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